Fallout 3 Magazine Q&A

A user called "scabble" on the GameFAQs forums has posted a transcript of the Fallout 3 Q&A with lead designer Emil Pagliarulo in PlayStation Magazine's January issue.
PTOM (Playstation the Official Magazine): For a Playstation audience whose only contact with the "Fallout" franchise might be BoS, what is Fallout, in a nutshell?

EP(Emil): "Fallout," as a franchise, is all about finding your way in an open-ended, post-apocalyptic world. There's good, there's evil, and there's everything in between. So for the player, it's all about doing what you want, how you want. There's always a greater good, a sense of nobility and selfless purpose that you can champion... if you want. If you wander through the rubble and be a complete ass, well, you can do that, too!

"Fallout" is also different from other post-apocalyptic settings in that the America that got destroyed wasn't our America, not as we know it today. It was the year 2077, and the country had developed into a much more of a 50's version of the future. You know, the "World of Tomorrow" ideal. Women with the beehive haircuts were driving around with their robots in nuclear-powered cars- and then they all blew up.